Is California about to be hit by the 'Big One'? Fears of a massive earthquake rise after 134 mini-tremors rattle the San Andreas fault in just one week

Fresh fears have been raised that a huge earthquake is about to hit California after a swarm of recent tremors.

In the last week 134 earthquakes have hammered a three-mile stretch around Monterey County on the San Andreas fault.

Of those earthquakes, 17 were stronger than 2.5 magnitude and six of them were stronger than 3.0, with more tremors expected in the coming weeks, experts warn.

It follows fears raised last week that the 'Big One' is about to hit after a series of ten 'mini quakes' struck the same area.

The swarm included one 4.6-magnitude quake that was felt in San Francisco more than 90 miles (145 km) away.

'This one has been a quite productive aftershock sequence,' said Ole Kaven, a US Geological Survey (USGS) seismologist.

'We suspect there will be aftershocks in the 2 to 3 [magnitude] range for at least a few more weeks', he said.

There have not been any reports of injuries, writes San Francisco news outlet SFGate.

Last week's swarm hit California's Monterey County on Monday at 11:31am ET (4:31pm GMT) about 13 miles (20 km) northeast of Gonzales, near Salinas.

It dramatically increases the likelihood of a major quake in California, at least temporarily, experts claimed.

The initial 4.6-magnitude quake was followed by nine smaller aftershocks.

The largest of these measured magnitude 2.8, Annemarie Baltay, a seismologist with the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park, told SFGATE.

There were no reports of injuries or damage to buildings.

The quake happened at a depth of around 4 miles (6.5 km) on the infamous San Andreas Fault, close to a region where the Calaveras Fault branches off.

Experts have previously warned that any activity on the fault line is cause for concern.

'Any time there is significant seismic activity in the vicinity of the San Andreas fault, we seismologists get nervous,' Thomas Jordan, director of the Southern California Earthquake Centre, told the LA Times last year.

Because we recognise that the probability of having a large earthquake goes up.'

Despite this, Ms Baltay said the recent quakes are part of normal seismic activity and that there was no suggestion the tremors were signs of larger activity to come.

'This is really typical behaviour,' she said.

'It's as if someone put an oil can into the fault and lubricated it.'

Fears of California's 'Big One' were stirred in May when an expert warned that a destructive earthquake will hit the state 'imminently'.

Seismologist Dr Lucy Jones, from the US Geological Survey, warned in a dramatic speech that people need to act to protect themselves rather than ignoring the threat.

Dr Jones said people's decision not to accept it will only mean more suffer as scientists warn the 'Big One' is now overdue to hit California.

In a keynote speech to a meeting of the Japan Geoscience Union and American Geophysical Union, Dr Jones warned that the public are yet to accept the randomness of future earthquakes.

People tend to focus on earthquakes happening in the next 30 years but they should be preparing now, she warned.

Dr Jones said there are three key reasons why the peril is so frightening - it cannot be seen, it is uncertain and it seems unknowable.

This means people bury their heads in the sand and pretend it won't happen.

'We find patterns even when they're not real,' Dr Jones said.

She tweeted on 23 May; 'I'm not trying to terrify people. I'm trying to inspire action that will prevent our scenarios from coming true. It's in our power to change'.

Her team published a scenario of a 7.8 earthquake on the San Andreas fault that could kill many people and devastate 15,000 buildings.

In 2011 a magnitude nine earthquake hit the east coast of Japan, killing around 20,000 people.

'The city leaders ignored protocol that said to move to higher ground and conducted their emergency meeting in the city hall', said Dr Jones.

'When the tsunami poured over the sea wall, they lost over 1,000 people, including most of their city government'.

_________________“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize,ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief."

_________________“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize,ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief."

Wolf wrote:What you would have after the "big one" would be a California Island (or islands..) separated by a new Strait of (whatever ?).

Despite the inevitable destruction, it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. The sense of geographical separation would lend credence to the idea of a separate political entity. Further, we could convince the religious nuts that it was a sign of 'god's will'.

In the end it is the political disposition of the people that makes a nation. Californians have no truck with people of southern ways, and the two belong separated. We believe that. They believe that. We just have to lead the horse to water and convince him to drink.